scmor92 Posted November 12, 2005 Share Posted November 12, 2005 I just got back from the Philly VGXPO, and wanted to put in my two cents about the show. Let me preface my review by stating I've never been to PhillyClassic, so I can't compare. First of all, Atariage had its latest games, including a few not yet released, running on several monitors. It was great to be able to play these games before purchasing. Speaking of purchasing, Albert (whom I had the pleasure of meeting for the first time) had a very organized and well-laid-out sales table. In fact, I'd say Atariage was the most organized and interesting game vendor at the show. As for the rest of the show, there were plenty of used games to be had for all systems. The few carts I looked at were reasonably priced. No great deals, but no ripoffs, either. There were lots of classic arcade games, although it seemed some required tokens while others did not. I only played Defender and Gorf, which were both free. That's about it from me. Again, I've never been to any other classic gaming convention, so I have nothing to which I can compare this event. Maybe some of the PhillyClassic veterans will have a different take. P.S. -- Can't wait to get my hands on Man Goes Down, Reflex and Bolderdash -- hopefully they'll be ready for Christmas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cd-w Posted November 13, 2005 Share Posted November 13, 2005 (edited) This was my first show, so I also can't compare. However, the fears about it being a damp squib were definitely not realised in my opinion! When I arrived around 10am it was quite busy, and by the time I left around 2pm it was really heaving with people - quite difficult to move around! Albert looked rather frazzled when I left, but this was probably the combined effect of a long drive and the crowds of interested people It seemed to me that AA were doing great business, as were the other stands. There was lots to see at the show, and the classic arcades were very numerous and impressive - the full range of classic machines were there including pong, defender, pac man, space invaders, tempest, etc. However, the best bit for me was seeing lots of people enjoying my own games! For some reason the vgXpo was situated at the back of the hall, but it was by far the busiest section. The consumer sections of the show were very quiet by comparison. I definitely think they should concentrate on the games in future as this is clearly where the most interest was found this time. Anyway, I will write a proper review in my blog later, but it seemed a very succesfull show to me. If anyone is hesitating about going tomorrow, then I definitely don't think they will be disappointed! Chris Edited November 13, 2005 by cd-w Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bergbros2 Posted November 13, 2005 Share Posted November 13, 2005 This event was really weird in that it is sharing space with other disparate events on the same floor. It was next to some science battlebots convention and a job fair and something hosted by NBC10. Still the event, was definitely bigger and better attended than the previous Philly Classics I attended. The arcade was phenomenal and the games are games that in my opinion can only be played in the arcade like Marble Madness and my all time favorite Robotron. Robotron is the greatest arcade game and I frequently came back to it for another round. I think my heart rate and blood pressure doubled playing Robotron. I was somewhat disappointed by the game offerings being sold from my standpoint. I am a Dreamcast, Genesis (Nomad), GBA, Lynx and Neo Geo Pocket Color collector and although I bought a few DC games at good prices there really wasn't any rariites or good prices. There really wasn't a good selection of GBA and Neo Geo Pocket games at all and I could get better deals elesewhere. There was one table with a good selection of Dreamcast stuff but the asking prices were just not competitive. I mean, Crazy Taxi 2 for $11, Expendable for $10 and Carrier for $15 are just not going to cut it when you can go online for much less. I felt that overall, the vendors were just not out in force as in previous Philly Classics. I really missed that one vendor that sold handheld games like those arcade looking Coleco games. I agree Atariage's table was first rate as it always has been. My one complaint and I told Albert and Chickybaby this was that they didn't bring name tags so that Atariage people can spot each other. I know so few by sight and it would help to just have the tags because there is just so much more people. I am sure there AA people who would want to know who bergbros is as much I want to know who is behind the screen name. The speakers were on the whole excellent and befitting of a major convention. It was cool to see Ralph Baer and even Tommy Tallarico who looks even shorter in person than he does on television. He got a big kick out of reminding him that he reviewed these accessories for the Gameboy DS and said that the game key chain was too big to be a Prince Albert. He said that most of the show is off the cuff and a lot of stuff gets cut off or edited because it is just too raw for G4. That is no surprise. But the Prince Albert reference no one ever got. Tommy will probably be first to admit that he has smewhat of a sick mind. Whatever you think of these people, they are very accessible and I encourage those going on Sunday to ask some questions about the industry becasue they will give you an up front answer. They got the other G4 woman there who is on the G4.com show. She is the one who looks like she styled her hair with a weed whacker. I am thinking about going a second day. BTW, I lost my camera at the convention somehow and if you find it, can you please PM me. I still don't know what happened to it and I retraced my steps to all the places I went to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke 4ever Posted November 13, 2005 Share Posted November 13, 2005 (edited) Had a good time. Bought a few 3do, sega cd, and Saturn games And a few imports The only dissapointment is that one stop game shoppe sold me a damn defective sega cd for $50. Im going back tomorrow to sell it back I also met a few people such as Tommy Tallarico, and get this, Tom Fulp, the creator of Newgrounds.com! Overall, good time 9/10 EDIT: A good person at One stop game shoppe took my Sega CD back and replaced it with another that works. Thanks guys! Edited November 13, 2005 by Duke 4ever Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolenta Posted November 13, 2005 Share Posted November 13, 2005 Congratulations Ed! Despite all of the negative publicity Ed pulled it off and the show was a great success. I had said all along that people were going to attend this show regardless if it was paired with a tech expo or a consumer expo. Whether it was called Phillyclassic or not, people were going to attend the show as long as the vendors didn't run scared. And to their credit, they didn't! I don't know what the counts were but throughout the day it looked like there were more people at America's Videogame Expo than at NBC's Consumer Expo. Of the few shows that I attended as a vendor, this was by far my busiest but that's probably due to the two celebrities I had at my booth: Ralph Baer and Bill Kunkel! I also want to thank those who helped out at the booth: Mike Thomasson, Howard Barkin, and most of all Patrick Wong without whose help, I probably wouldn't have been able to pull this off. After the show, a bunch of us, including Tommy and Mike Tallrarico, Bill Kunkel, Patrick Wong, Mike Thomasson, and Mike and Christina Case, went out to dinner. Thanks Tommy! Tomorrow's another day. If you're in the area and haven't visited yet, I strongly encourage you to come on down. Ralph Baer won't be here on Sunday but Bill Kunkel is always available to tell an interesting tale. Again, congratulations Ed!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z28in82 Posted November 13, 2005 Share Posted November 13, 2005 While it was nice to see somekind of gaming event in the greater Philly area I miss PC. There were a fair amount of vendors, mostly larger types. Who had a decent selection on systems and games. Not a whole lot of "deals" to be found . Yes, the expo may have been larger than last year's PC but it was only because people were more spaced apart. The placement was horrible, the AA booth was right behind the main stage for the Consumer expo which made holding conversations with anyone far more difficult than it should have been. There seemed to be alot of casual traffic, more people wondering why the AA booth had no joysticks, hardware, etc. for sale. It wasn't all bad, got to see alot of friendly faces, and meet a few others. Overall not bad, a few growing pains. A decent first show but NOT the PC many of us knew and loved. A few suggestions for the next one, next year or whenever 1) Have a better plan of events thought out and a general listing for the attendies to see would help. The panel discussions seemed rather hap-hazard 2) Try and not have so much space bettween vendors, They are almost on top of each other at one end and spaced way too far apart down the other end of the hall. 3) If you are gonna have a sponsor like EB games, suggest that they might want to bring some games to sell, and have a better display other than 3 X-boxes. 4) If there is gonna be free food (popcorn) having one or two trash cans visable would be nice so that the food, and water/soda bottles don't end up on display tables. Ed, if you read this, thanks for all the time and effort you put into this show. It's not easy and you have big ideas for it, just don't forget the little guys who come to the shows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariAger Posted November 13, 2005 Share Posted November 13, 2005 Today was my 1st event! I thought it was very cool actually. I enjoyed talking to the guys at AA and also talked to Joe Cody over at Atari2600.com. Here are some goodies I picked up today...I promised myself that I wouldn't go too crazy today, with the buying. It was extremely difficult after seeing what Joe had over at his booth! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted November 13, 2005 Share Posted November 13, 2005 I really wish I could have gone this year, but I'm currently busy closing on my new house. This is what I get for not planning my house buying around important video game shows... Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitardude Posted November 13, 2005 Share Posted November 13, 2005 I'm heading out about ten from Long Island, NY. My friends and I said f**k it and we're taking a road trip and then some obligitory cheesesteaks. I hope Kunkel still has some books left.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 13, 2005 Share Posted November 13, 2005 Here are some goodies I picked up today...I promised myself that I wouldn't go too crazy today, with the buying. $10 for me. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cd-w Posted November 13, 2005 Share Posted November 13, 2005 (edited) $10 for me. Thanks! 964595[/snapback] I also bought a copy of Thrus+, so I guess that is at least $15 for you If anyone is interested, I have now posted an extended version of my experiences at the vgXpo in my AA blog. Chris Edited November 13, 2005 by cd-w Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 13, 2005 Share Posted November 13, 2005 I also bought a copy of Thrus+, so I guess that is at least $15 for you Nope, Thrust+ was already included. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cd-w Posted November 13, 2005 Share Posted November 13, 2005 (edited) Nope, Thrust+ was already included. 964654[/snapback] I'm not sure how you knew this as I hadn't posted it previously However, at least 2 copies of Thrus+ were sold, and I saw several other people buying Swoops! Chris Edited November 13, 2005 by cd-w Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariAger Posted November 13, 2005 Share Posted November 13, 2005 Here are some goodies I picked up today...I promised myself that I wouldn't go too crazy today, with the buying. $10 for me. Thanks! 964595[/snapback] LMAO... ! You're very welcome...Nice work!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 13, 2005 Share Posted November 13, 2005 (edited) LMAO... ! You're very welcome...Nice work!!! I hope you will have some fun while playing the games. Or maybe even try to master Thrust+. Edited November 13, 2005 by Thomas Jentzsch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 13, 2005 Share Posted November 13, 2005 I'm not sure how you knew this as I hadn't posted it previously However, at least 2 copies of Thrus+ were sold, and I saw several other people buying Swoops! (SW)OOPS, my fault! I confused you and AtariAger. Sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassidy Nolen Posted November 14, 2005 Share Posted November 14, 2005 As always, the people were by far the BEST part of the show. Seeing Albert, Smitty, Big Player, Chicky and Z28 was fantastic. Saw some old friends including PC organizer David Newman and his son, Eric Ruck, some non-AA board members, Chris Chandler and of course Joe Grand. I am sure I am missing some bro's so know it was great seeing you too.....too tired to think! We managed to get to an Irish pub (many of the above listed) the first night and had some fun. We had two Brits in tow (Osmeroid and another game guy Dave) and managed to find our ways back to the hotels. Saturday night we found King of Prussia mall with Dave Ellis (author of the collector guide), Dan Cage, Zlatka and Joe Cody and my group. Had a VERY long wait for dinner at a brew house. Eh, well thats the best on a Sat. night before holidays (shopping crowd). Got some good deals and some decent boxed stuff. LOVE the new RPS game on the 2600. Really cool. Trade-N-Games had some great stuff and there was a good selection (not great) for it being a new show. This morning had a new vendor selling slot machines and some WAY overpriced (read as uninformed) games. How about a loose Texas Chainsaw Massacre for only $300? I'll take two! Not! Some good boxed stuff was available for most systems. I saw all the early stuff for sale (Odyssey dedicateds, Pong, Video Pinball, Arcadia, Astrocade, of course all the Atari systems up). Prices were good overall. I would say to the critics of the prices that yes, you can get it cheaper online but that doesn't make a community. Supporting these vendors is what keeps shows happening. A buck here or there doesn't break you but it may keep a vendor from doing a show in the future. Overall it pulled off. I don't think the Consumer show is the right venue but this show had some spirit. I did like that it ended early so the vendors could actually rest. I did not vend this show (first one I have not in some time) and I had a very different experience as a guest. Thanks to all who worked hard to organize. I will post my finds as soon as I remember/check what all I got! Cassidy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osmeroid Posted November 14, 2005 Share Posted November 14, 2005 Well, I think that I'll chime in too and say a big thanks to Ed for organising the event and how great it was to meet up with the usual suspects As ever, it was the people making a gaming community that really made the show. Terrific to catch up with Al (thanks again for the rush job, I really do owe you a beer!) Chicky & z28, the two Mikes, Smitty, Jason and Joe & Zlatka. Also a pleasure to meet Dan Cage and David Ellis for the first time - damn the wait for a meal!! Must say a big thanks to the guys from Game Crazy for the great deals - again! Last year, an eReader (stat!!!) for my GCN, this year a boxed 5200 with all the trimmings. No exaggeration but worth the 7200 mile round trip! See you all again next year and with luck, catch up with some faces that were missing this time around, the MMF's, Stan and Amy, Mr Siegler and anyone else I've missed out! Os. BTW Happy Birthday Chicky! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schenley Posted November 14, 2005 Share Posted November 14, 2005 (edited) This was my first show as a vendor. For those of you that went, I was the guy in the back with all the broken hardware. I was selling non working stuff 3 for $10. I was able to sell quite a bit of it - more than I expected. Some of it was for nostalgic reasons or for parts. If any of you bought any of it and were able to get it working, let me know! If not, it was sold "AS-IS!" Saturday was better than Sunday. Sunday seemed to have a lot of 'tire kickers.' Highlights for me were: -Getting one of my broken Odyssey2's autographed by Ralph Baer himself! -Having Tommy Tallarico buying like 10 busted machines from me -Meeting Chris Chandler and Nick - who was a huge help to me all weekend -Playing the 'brown box' with Chandler for like 20 seconds -Meeting Jason from Trade-N-Games - pleasure buying some of your stuff! -Buying my first 'rare' game -Seeing games at the Atari2600.com booth that are worth more than my collection -Getting autographed copies of books by Bill Kunkel and Leonard Herman -Talking to fellow collectors who have more stuff than me Regrets: -Not being more active on here before the show so I could've met more of you -Not having some kind of nametag identifying me as a AtariAge member -Not having someone available to watch my table so I could shop more -Not having time to check out the homebrews at the AtariAge booth -Not having time to play some of the arcade machines like the Sinistar sitdown and Robotron -=A.J. "Schenley" Griglak Edited November 14, 2005 by Schenley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Vendel Posted November 14, 2005 Share Posted November 14, 2005 I give a big thanks to Ed as well... I'm happy to see that instead of Ed going down a negative road and not listening to what were honestly were some harsh, but very true criticisms and issues with his show, he did the right thing by all, got the website overhauled and put together a proper show schedule as well as other things. Congrats Ed, its not easy to have to take a lot of flack from the community, I know I threw a lot your way and as I said in our last PM to one another, it wasn't against you personally, it never was, and that I would stay to my word and I'd be involved in something in the future. Ed, you did very well, now your only problem, you'll need to top yourself next year, so dump the NBC baggage and start planning now, so get to work! Curt Well, I think that I'll chime in too and say a big thanks to Ed for organising the event and how great it was to meet up with the usual suspects As ever, it was the people making a gaming community that really made the show. Terrific to catch up with Al (thanks again for the rush job, I really do owe you a beer!) Chicky & z28, the two Mikes, Smitty, Jason and Joe & Zlatka. Also a pleasure to meet Dan Cage and David Ellis for the first time - damn the wait for a meal!! Must say a big thanks to the guys from Game Crazy for the great deals - again! Last year, an eReader (stat!!!) for my GCN, this year a boxed 5200 with all the trimmings. No exaggeration but worth the 7200 mile round trip! See you all again next year and with luck, catch up with some faces that were missing this time around, the MMF's, Stan and Amy, Mr Siegler and anyone else I've missed out! Os. BTW Happy Birthday Chicky! 964978[/snapback] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrandAmChandler Posted November 14, 2005 Share Posted November 14, 2005 (edited) Okay here it is. My review. From a vendor's perspective who has attended CGE, and vended at the last two Philly Classics. Let me start out by saying that Vgxpo met and exceeded all of my expectations. Vendors that pulled out, shame on them. This show was great for what everyone worried about prematurely. Sure there are flaws with being paired with NBC 10, but Vgxpo is young. Like any new show there are some things that need to be addressed. Ed Flemming was an EXCELLENT host and catered to all of the vendor's requests as best as he could. Videotopia brought in an awesome selection of classic arcade cabs that attracted the mainstream crowd from the consumer expo. We really stole NBC's thunder. I had all kinds of people walk by and go "WOW! Atari! I remember that! Can I buy one and some games!?" Obviously any show that gets the mainstream public back into retro gaming sure did its job. As for the collectors tables, there were some AWESOME pieces to be found for any collection. Anything from NES Panesians, to SQ: Waterworld, and Glib to Protos. It was there. I got some pretty good stuff in the little time I got to leave my table and wander around. Game Crazy had brought all of their retro stock (Dreamcast & Below) for their 3 for $15 sale. I picked up a Xevious 3dG for PS1, Gauntlet Legends for N64, and TMNT: Hyperstone heist for Genesis for my brother. I also picked up an official Final Fantasy III strategy guide for $10 in mint condition! I traded a few NES games to Mindlesspunk here on DP for a Vectrex system. But the personal grail of the weekend was a complete Gain Ground for Sega Genesis which I have been looking for, for over 2 years. $10 for that one. Also got the new edition of the ABC VCS guide book from Rolenta. Excellent reads. Luckilly, Rolenta's booth was right next to mine. He had the major guest speakers. Having Ralph Baer there to demonstrate his "brown box" pong system right next to my booth, was pretty cool. Talking to Bill Kunkel only feet away from me also was awesome. Also, there were no more Blue DP guides to be found at the show, they sold out! I got to check out the latest build of Adventure II for 5200, and some homebrews were released to, although I am not much into that stuff. Word up to meeting up with Schenley, Smitty, Al, Cassidy, Osmeroid, Chickybaby, and everyone else I met this weekend! Overall, I had a good time, a lot of pipe and drape around, I thought a little too much. Auction could have been bigger, but again this show is just starting out. Congrats to Ed Flemming for exceeding my expectations. -Chris Edited November 14, 2005 by GrandAmChandler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted November 14, 2005 Share Posted November 14, 2005 Don't have time to post all the pictures I took at the show, but I do have a sampling of pics to post before we head back to Austin tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, we didn't find this sign until Sunday, so we spent the first day of the show in our hotel room, very confused. At first I was frightened when Dave Newman started lifting up his shirt... Smitty giving Ralph Baer some tips on how he could improve the design of the Computer Perfection. Unfortunately we did not get a shot of Ralph punching Smitty shortly thereafter. Joe Grand about to pass out after Smitty and Big Player demonstrate the toxicity of their breath after a bout with garlic-infested pizza. A showgoer demonstrates his satisfaction with the merger of the NBC Con$umer Expo and the vgXpo. This extremely RARE (L@@K!) prototype was discovered Saturday at the Philly vgXpo. We'll have more on this unbelievable find shortly.. The NBC Peacock gives pointers on the latest homebrew games before pecking this poor classic gaming enthusiast to death in a frightening display of carnage. Smitty is finally reunited with the Pac-Man pillow that granted him a good night's rest for the first 25 years of his life.. Smitty finally passes the final test on his journey to become a Jedi Master. More pictures in a few days. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolenta Posted November 14, 2005 Share Posted November 14, 2005 Ed, you did very well, now your only problem, you'll need to top yourself next year, so dump the NBC baggage and start planning now, so get to work! Obviously. NBC had no idea what was going on at Videogame Expo. On the first morning of the show I told the NBC lady that the inventor of videogames would be attending and naturally they never sent a camera over. When Patrick Wong questioned them on Sunday about this, they said that there was too many scantilly-dressed women near our booth and that would frighten their viewers. Sure, there were a few scantilly-dressed women in the booth across from us. But why would NBC have the camera facing in their direction? No wonder NBC is in 4th place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted November 14, 2005 Share Posted November 14, 2005 Don't have time to post all the pictures I took at the show, but I do have a sampling of pics to post before we head back to Austin tomorrow morning. ..Al 965119[/snapback] Great pics. Can't wait to see more. Allan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Helmet Posted November 14, 2005 Share Posted November 14, 2005 Al's comments are funny as hell. His rare form must be due to a lack of sleep due to the long drive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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